John Buttimer to become next Lord Mayor of Cork

Fine Gael’s John Buttimer is set to be the next Lord Mayor of Cork.
He will take over from current Lord Mayor Cllr Terry Shannon when the council holds in Annual General Meeting next month.
Fine Gael’s Cllr Emmet O’Halloran is expected to be elected the deputy Lord Mayor.
Based in Bishopstown, Cllr Buttimer is a psychologist with COPE Foundation. He first took up a seat on the council in 2007 when his brother Jerry was elected to the Seanad. He retained the seat in the 2009 local elections, topping the poll in the South West Ward securing 2,070 first preference votes.
Jerry Buttimer has since been elected to the Dáil and made headlines earlier this week when he came out as Fine Gael’s first openly gay TD.
Fine Gael, Labour and Fianna Fáil have a pact agreement to rotate the position of Lord Mayor between them over the five-year term of the city council.
Fine Gael’s Dara Murphy held the role in 2009, followed by Labour’s Cllr Michael O’Connell in 2010 and Fianna Fáil’s Cllr Terry Shannon who was elected last June. Following Cllr Buttimer’s year as Lord Mayor, the position will rotate back to Labour.
Sinn Féin and other councillors who form a technical group on the city council are expected to put forward their own candidate for Lord Mayor but are unlikely to have the votes needed to secure the position.
The position attracts a salary of €94,000 per year on top of the councillor’s €17,000 representational pay and use of a driver and car.